Author: Nick

I came across an article today discussing the lack of friends among men. Friends really are hard to come by, especially for men. I understand for many their spouse is their best friend. I know that’s true for me, but should our life mate our only friend? Think about this. If you wanted a friend to join you for a movie or a football game, who would you call? I normally bring my grandkids to events that my best friend, my wife, isn’t interested in. That’s great, but it does show a problem. We should all have folks our own age and stage of life that we can spend time with and who are uniquely suited to understand what we might be going through. That’s something that’s greatly lacking these days. Perhaps you’ve heard the mantra of friendship evangelism. Make a friend. Be a Friend. Bring a friend to Christ. Our friendship famine can’t be good for evangelism. Have you successfully shared the gospel with anyone in the last year? Certainly the best chance we have for evangelism is with those who consider us friends. It’s not a good sign that most of us have less than a handful […]

Got a little something in your life that isn’t perfect? Think you have problems? Consider: Your job is a pain. Do you realize how many living right here in Acadiana would love to have a job, any job? Your spouse is a pain. Do you realize how many would give anything to hold their spouse of decades just one more time? Your kids are a pain.  I’m just one person you know who has lost a child. Just shut up. Don’t know what to have for supper.  Millions won’t be eating tonight and haven’t had much to eat all day. Concerned this is no longer a Christian nation.  Chances are you won’t be killed for your faith today. Not everyone is so lucky. The murder of Christians is now epidemic in many countries.  Besides if you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Those fall allergies are kicking in. Do you have cancer? Is your life expectancy less than a year? Are you in the hospital? Can’t seem to lose that excess weight? See “Don’t know what to have for supper” above. The government is too liberal.  How many government […]

As Christians, we often get to the point at which we just cry out, “God, I need a miracle.” It might be helpful to remember that’s just what God is waiting to hear. Think about it. We are crying out because we don’t know what else to do. We are crying out because we have reached the end of ourselves. We are crying out because we need something SUPERnatural to fix whatever problem we are having. That’s just where God wants us. Doesn’t it take floods and hurricanes and planes hitting buildings for folks to turn to God? We really think we can handle most of the problems of life. We can handle the bumps pretty well. It’s the mountains that we can’t move. That’s not how it should be. If we are relying on Him for the everyday stuff, maybe we wouldn’t have to have crises and tragedies to get us to pick up our prayer lines and give Him a call. As parents we  all know about just hearing from our kids when they need something. Wouldn’t we like to hear from them when things are great in their lives and they are just wondering what we are […]

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Every Christian knows that Satan is a liar and the father of lies. We just don’t always remember what that means. His lips are moving.  We need to remember that the father of lies is talking. He may speak through just about anyone or just whisper in our heads. Those words that pierce or harm might be his. The ones that cause fear to rise are almost surely his. We need to constantly be alert for his lies. They could be coming from anywhere. He’s really good at it. We all know some really bad liars. Satan isn’t one of those. He’s a really good liar. Lying is his native tongue. We all speak easily in the language we were born into. A good lie sounds like truth. It has an “element” of truth. When Satan lies, it won’t be obvious we are being lied […]

At Amana on Sunday we were blessed to have a visit from T. G. Koshy the founder of Faith Theological Seminary in India. It was interesting to hear what a man of God from a very different culture had to say to an American congregation. Here are the highlights: Pray for the President. Christians, particularly recently, have become outdone with politics and particularly the politics of our President. It’s clear that Christians are not a favored class in our culture these days. While our lives are based on following a God of power, we often underestimate the power of our God to change lives. Life changing is what our God is all about. It’s so easy to forget that we struggle not against flesh and blood but spiritual forces. We need to pray for our leaders, especially when we disagree with their actions. A man of God from another culture can see that need with a clarity that those of us who are involved lack. Bro. Koshy has also seen our God of power work miraculous changes. Focus on the spiritual, not the material. India is a very “spiritual” country. Sometimes the spiritual is dark there, but Brother Koshy […]

We are under the power of our habits. Our lives are a conglomerate of repetitive acts. When we rise and go to bed, what we eat, where we work, if and where we go to church; all are not the result of independent thought but are just habit. Habits are fine if they are wisely chosen and personally developed. Most of our habits just happened. Is it any wonder that we find life boring, predictable and unexciting? Our habits are not even original. They are formed by copying what we see others do. I’m not talking about others we admire, just others that we see from afar on television or in movies. We all seem to dress, talk and act alike. Sure we differ greatly on political or philosophical matters, but that’s just because we are copying the ideas and talking points of different groups of “leaders.” We claim to be “followers” of Christ. Let’s check that out. What were the “habits” of Jesus? He had, such as, the habit of going off alone and spending time with His father. This habit was so unusual that it is repeatedly noted by the writers of the gospels. Most of what […]

My pastor was on vacation last Sunday. So he had two weeks to prepare for this Sunday’s sermon. It was so good that I have to steal from it. As the political season heats up it’s easy to conclude that no one is trustworthy. Don’t fall for that. Our God is trustworthy and we desperately need to be able to rely on His truths. You are forgiven. We all  need to dump the baggage we carry around. You know what I mean. It’s the guilt for all that we have done wrong. God forgives as long as we are willing to forgive others. God places this condition on forgiveness because not only do we need to be relieved of guilt, we need release from the burden of unforgiveness. Unforgiveness fills us with bitterness and steals our focus from all the good we have been given and should be sharing with others.  God will provide. Give us this day our daily bread. If we could really mean the prayer we all know, if we could limit our concerns and worries to 24 hour blocks, how joyful would our lives be. Just as His forgiveness lifts the burdens from our past; […]

My wife and I had a glorious evening on Thursday. We spent three hours on the couch with Logan our great-grandson. We had a couple of movies going that we had already seen but our focus was on Logan. It’s glorious to watch his personality unfold. He is already showing traits that will likely last his entire life. We look forward to many years of watching him develop. The experience made me consider how wise our God is. In so much of life, he gently unfolds things, not hitting us with them all at once. It’s evidence that he is acutely aware of how slow we are to appreciate the beautiful, awesome and glorious things of life. He does this with children like Logan as they unfold like a beautiful flower over their years of growing up. It’s Kaydence’s birthday and looking back over her seven years I’m amazed at the process. It’s not just kids. Fall, for example, is my favorite season. Even in the parts of the country where fall colors are glorious, God doesn’t unveil them all at once. There are, at first just hints of colors, other than shades of green, in foliage. Slowly the fall […]